wednesday

it's been good. hectic.

this little critter showed up right outside our patio door.
i'm not a fan of critters.
then it started raining. coach scared it away.
a day later a neighbor came over and asked me if i knew of anyone missing a ferret.
it went in through her doggy door, and tore up her couch.
i'm pretty sure i would have died had it shown up in my house.
cute, but critter none the less.

stuffed peppers for dinner. really good. pretty healthy.

i have a crush on my dermotologist. he's working magic on my complexion. makes me happy!
someone wasn't so into homework this day.
i had no idea parenting would be so entertaining.

hello monday

the weekend is over. boo hoo.
on friday i made pioneer woman's spicy pop pulled pork. so darn good! i bought a pork butt shoulder roast at HEB. They had some really big ones or a few on the small side. I think the one i got was about 3-4 pound roast. cooked it for about 4-5 hours in the oven. It made plenty for the 4 of us for a few meals. the chipotle in adobe peppers give it the best spicy flavor. YUM i added some new artwork to the boy's room. i think they have outgrown the stage of taking it all down. fingers crossed kept cooper home on friday cause he was coughing and congested over night. it was fun spending one on one time with my boy. and he especially adores having my undivided attention.
i think he's ready to learn to tie shoes. however, he doesn't have any shoes that tie. so he's learning on mine. his bestie Alex at school learned how to tie his so he must keep up. so competitive, this one. deciding what to do with my collection of bottle caps

have a great week!

Hearts for Africa

lots of talk about africa going on here. lots of reading about east africa for me.
i've been stepping out asking ladies at church to help me make it to africa in July.
my weekly bible study class is taking up donations. so sweet
but there are others on my team who also need to raise funds to make the trip possible. it's a lot of money.
i'm blessed to know that it's an amount our God can provide.
and until it's time to begin filling out my volunteer application, sharing my testimony and paying that first deposit in less than a month, i choose to sew something to help raise awareness for Africa and money to pay for travel expenses.

i saw this shirt idea online, and decided to make some for us.
ALL OF US!
let's share our hearts for africa by wearing these shirts. i'm sure when you wear it someone will ask you about it and you can share the story that you are supporting christians who are going to africa this summer to serve at an orphanage, and provide basic medical attention to some very needy.

i have ALL sizes. Adult to infant onesies. know someone who just had a baby? perfect gift with proceeds going to a heavenly cause :)
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happy birthday today to my dad! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!
we love you dearly!

hello monday

i finished sewing this on saturday. hope she likes it. really love the color turquoise.

praying for africa. dreaming about what it will be like. staring at this map imagining being so far from home.
deciding what i can make to take with me, and leave. maybe some long skirts.
yummy lunch date with adam while the kids were in school. we split an entree, as always.
began a study on the book of James this week for wed morning ladies bible study at church. another beth moore. so good!
definition of joy.
today...
listening to this soundtrack on repeat.
lovely in every way. climb every mountain!

grateful for the homefront. ! i ♥ my family.


so long, farwell!!

InstaFriday

cookie love

these easy chocolate chip cookies are so good! the boys took some to their classes for a friday treat.

Fridaywe watched the 60 years of Today show celebration all morning. love them! they've been a regular in our home since we got married. as barbara walters says "we turn them on in the morning to see if the worlds still there". smart and worthwhile news.

Thursdayplayed a few rounds of Scrabble Slam. adam won all of them. boo

Wednesdaybath time styles

Tuesday we've been organizing all the Legos by color. super idea!

Mondayearly in the week the weather was spring like. i walked the boys home from school several days in a row. need to move more!

i am here to serve with joy

my hubby works a lot these days. thank you dear God for his great job.
many times his work day drags late into the night here at home...
he works for a global company where many of those he works with are working while we are typically sleeping. tonight he is teaching co-workers in malaysia how to use a new financial model he built. and he's loud when he's speaking english to co-workers who speak another language.
so i have my comfy ear buds in listening to this.
i've listened to her "talk" 3 other times. it's sad. inspiring. wise. touching. profound. a lot about Jesus.
better than listening to adam talk about caps, mp's, burst agreements, graduated tiers :-)

http://deathisnotdying.com/

know God
know yourself
"the focus of life is too often ourselves when it should be God. and this is the essence of sin."
know the Gospel
know your purpose

listen to rachel. it will change you. for real.

africa mission trip

i'm going to africa in july.

i admit i'm still battling some nerves as i begin to share the news with others. the furthest I've traveled from the comforts of home is the Carribean, and it certainly wasn't travel for the purpose of serving others but to be served and pampered on vacation :) i've never even been on a mission trip. visting East Africa will be a whole new world for this spoiled city girl. certainly a leap out of my comfort zone!

Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3

let me give you a little history to fill you in on how this desire came about....

last summer a dear friend from our sunday school class, and her son traveled with kelly global to uganda, africa for her 3rd year to serve, among others, an orphanage of children with AIDS. they travel with doctors and dentists who set up clinics in very remote areas to offer medical care to very sick africans who may have never received medical attention in their life. they also spent time in the schools speaking about AIDS awareness, abstitence, and sharing God's word.

our sunday school class gathered vitamins, shoes, and clothes to send with Jen and Robert last summer. i helped Jen sew small stuffed bears for each of the 40 children living in the orphanage. it was truly heart opening for me... to think something I cut and sewed from my fabric stash would end up in the arms of a precious orphan child half a world away. touched me BIG.

growing up my mom and paternal grandmother were excellent seamstress. mom made me and my siblings matching outfits. and she even went on to own a quilt shop or two, and is an excellent quilter. my grandma Mandy made doll clothes for us, and worked at a fancy dress shop in Springfield, Mo up until the day she passed away. needless to say, i have picked up their love of sewing.

when Jen returned from africa she set up a slideshow to share pictures and stories from their trip to our sunday school class. after the presentation I told her I wanted to go back with her to teach the girls in the orphanage how to sew. Jen smiled so big! Ms. Agnes, who runs the orphanage, mentioned to Jen right before she left that she had two sewing machines in storage, but no one knew how to use them. ironic? uh no, for sure a God thing!
i want to go to africa to be stretched beyond MYSELF. i would be honored to have the opportunity to serve others in a third world country. share the gospel, lend a hand teaching young girls to sew, hug a child or fifty, give my time to a country who suffers greatly. in short be the hands and feet of Jesus to a small amount of God's african people who suffer much, and have so little. jen says we're even planning to build the orphanage a chicken coop. amazing! i believe this trip will be life changing for me and my family. i will have the gift of an experience like no other to share with my boys, and in turn minister to their hearts what it really looks like to give of yourself to be more Christ-like. they've seen pictures. they are getting it. they are blessed beyond the majority of other children in this world.
as many of you know my family had a tough year in 2011. adam was unemployed for 6 months, my brother and nephew were critically wounded in october... economically almost everyone in my family has struggled this year. but yet we are still blessed beyond comparision. none of us are homeless. we have clean running water, electricity and at least a few meals a day.
i share this here on my blog to ask for your prayers and support. prayers to calm my fears of the unknown, and a peace that only faith in Him will provide. prayers to willing lay down my rights on this mission journey to comfort and the norm, and wholly give up to God permission to do anything He wishes to me, with me, in me, or through me, that would glorify Him. (paraphrased/quote from Kelly Green release of rights)
it's going to cost a minimum of $3,500 for me to travel there. this includes airfare, transportation, and modest accomodations and food while there for 10 days. in addition, i will need funds to receive necessary immunizations for yellow fever, hepatitis A and B, Malaria, Meningitis, Rabies and Typhoid fever. a cost that could be as much as $1,500.
if you feel led to make a monetary donation on my behalf i would be so grateful. all donations are tax deductible. (you will receive a statement directly from kelly green at the end of the year.) please make checks payable to Kelly Green Global , put my name in the memo portion, and mail them directly to me. this will allow me to keep track of funds raised towards my trip costs. i will mail your checks directly Kelly Green Global. i will also be collecting vitamins to take. i will happily take those any way you can get them to me. click the Email Me link at the top of my blog front page and i will provide you my mailing address. look for lots more information about this mission trip in the coming weeks and months here on my blog. i have several other ideas in the works for raising funds, including photography mini-sessions in february, march and april. {fun photo shoots centered around celebrating valentine's day, easter, mother's day}

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18

sweet child of mine

this smiley sweet boy melts.my.heart. i talked him into letting me take some pics of him this afternoon after school. he's usually not a big fan of my camera. good ol' coach insisted on jumping in the middle of our fun. i'm loving these new pictures of cooper peyton. kool-aid mustache, choppy overgrown hair, and beautiful brown eyes. love his smile. love him! he's mine.

Happy New Year {instagram love}

Christmas break is over. boys went back to school today. back to early mornings, bedtime routines and learning.

so crazy for the instagram app. my new phone takes really good ones too :)
here is a big dump of pictures from the end of the year. i'll stretch out reminicising over christmas time a little longer :)
we had a very blessed holiday time. really looking forward to the new year and what's in store in 2012.